Donald Trump’s approval on the economy has fallen to 33%, the lowest level Marist has measured since it began asking the question in 2019. Sixty percent of Americans now disapprove of how he is handling the economy, a warning sign for a president who once treated that issue as one of his strongest selling points.
The new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll puts his overall job approval at 36%, so his economy rating is running just three points behind his total standing with adults. That gap matters because economic approval has often served as the sharper measure of whether voters are willing to give him credit for the broader direction of the country, and right now most are not.
The numbers are especially stark because the poll shows how much his support still rests on his own voters. Seventy-seven percent of people who voted for Trump in 2024 approve of how he is handling the economy, while 54% of white voters without a college degree do the same. Even so, among independent voters, 64% say they either disapprove or strongly disapprove of him, and 18% of Republicans say the same.
Lee Miringoff said Trump is paying a price for the costs people feel in everyday life, from the pump to the grocery store. Gas prices are down about 50 cents per gallon from last month, but they remain about 79 cents higher than a year ago, and 78% of Americans said gas prices have some effect on their household budgets. That helps explain why only 22% said they did not feel any strain from gas prices, even if that was up 3 percentage points from May.
The pressure is not coming from gas alone. The poll comes as economic anxieties continue to shadow Trump’s standing, and the latest reading is lower than what Joe Biden ever saw during his single term. In December 2020, half of Americans approved of how Trump was handling the economy; now a third do. The open question is whether that 33% is a floor or whether the drag from prices at the pump and at the supermarket still has farther to run.
